That sense of "luck", or "destiny" in media.

Many forms of media present a sense of luck, or destiny into their content. It always seems that our heroes come out alive, many times by a hair. The cliched bomb that is diffused at 0:01 seconds, the classic scene in Indiana Jones where he grabs his hat right before the giant slab stone door closes, or the one man army who is able to take out all of his enemies single handedly to save the day. It is even found in video games, as the very concept of a video game is to advance until the ending. Some even include this fact into their story telling. One of my personal favorite games that includes this story element is the Marathon series. In it's final screen, the AI known as Durandal, ponders these thoughts about you, the main protagonist:

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...

BUT YOU WERE DEAD A THOUSAND TIMES. HOPELESS ENCOUNTERS SUCCESSFULLY WON.
A MAN LONG DEAD. GRAFTED TO MACHINES YOUR BUILDERS DID NOT UNDERSTAND. YOU FOLLOW
THE PATH, FITTING INTO AN INFINITE PATTERN.

YOURS TO MANIPULATE, TO DESTROY, TO REBUILD.

NOW IN THE QUANTUM MOMENT BEFORE THE CLOSURE, WHEN ALL BECOME ONE. ONE MOMENT LEFT. ONE POINT OF SPACE AND TIME.

I KNOW WHO YOU ARE.

YOU ARE DESTINY.

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I feel like this rings true in many stories. Many characters seem to always make it through until the end, no matter what. They always seem to make the right decisions, always rise up to unexpected challenges, and even when that fails, they seem get of out situations though sheer dumb luck.

Is the media trying to tell us something? That we are all destined, that nothing can stop us either? Telling us to reach our goals, no matter what?

In any cause, it sort of give a nice positive imagery about humanity. With all these movies about people saving the day, maybe it means we also are all saving the day. We are all cogs in a clock, without you, the other clogs wouldn't spin. So give yourself a pat on the back for being a hero.

I salute you.

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